Tuesday, February 06, 2007

When Will They Ever Learn

Back in October I wrote an article about how professional poker players were reacting to the UIGEA. One of my favorite quotes from that article comes from Doyle Brunson who said:

"I am a life-long Republican myself and I am voting for the Democrats and I hope all poker players do the same."

Since then more and more players at all levels have come around to this way of thinking, including two of my poker buddies (Wildbill & Debonair). Two more life long thoughtful yet conservative thinkers who honestly feel their representatives at the highest levels are engaged in not just reactionary but even unconstitutional abridgement of our freedoms.

I was talking with Debonair about all of this and I made some reference to anti-war movement of the sixties. He said a more appropriate analogy would be Salem in the 1690's. I have been thinking about that and I agree. The fear of arrest, the intimidation of online site owner's, the blocking of access to our online monies. Why not just burn a big name player? Why not arrest Doyle or a Phil?

What does it say when people who nearly everyone would call "mainstream" or at least part of the center.... What does it say when these people feel the government is acting out of spite and religious fervor to subvert the constitutional guarantees we all take for granted.

Well today I was a bit surprised to receive an email from an old college friend, someone I have not spoken with more than once every five years at the reunions. He wondered if I would be willing to talk with his students in a Constitutional Law class about the UIGEA and its effects. It seems one of this students presented a contemporary case study on the Federal Government's efforts to ban online gaming and several of my articles appeared in his citations.

As I have said before: The dying gasps of a paranoid regime always threatens the rights and freedoms of those who oppose them and historically leads to the defeat of the ruling powers either by election or by revolution. But in the meantime many suffer for no reason, no reason at all.